No complaints…

I often hear people grumbling left, right and centre or read about their complaints on Facebook and elsewhere about the airlines but personally, most of the time, I have been quite happy with what I have been through whenever I flew…be it on the cheap airline (just that I don’t quite like the airport) or the national carrier, Malaysia Airlines (MAS).

Likewise, on our recent trip to New Zealand, I flew MAS, SBW-KUL-AKL return, and it was fine all the way. There was a bit of a delay in our KLIA-Auckland flight that morning but all the flights in and out of Auckland were delayed owing to thick heavy fog that day. Things like this may happen and anyway, it was just a matter of 45 minutes – nothing to be jumping up and down and pulling one’s hair about. I always believe in the age-old English proverb, “Better late than never!”

On our flight back from KLIA to Sibu, MH2712 on the 22nd of December, 2012, I noticed that we were flying in one of their newer aircrafts – the Boeing 737 – 800, I think it was…which, unlike the older ones, has a fuel-saving winglet…

I did not like the black leather upholstery though – the same as those of the cheap airline. Somehow I prefer the cloth seat covers they have in their older planes and the cheerful colours certainly go a long way to make flying in them more soothingly pleasant.

There was a problem with the online check-in that I did in Auckland but I would not go into the details. The ground staff, both at Auckland and KLIA, were every nice about it and did everything to clear whatever problem there was with it. Unfortunately, for this particular flight, there were only 3 seats left – two on one side and another on the other side of the aisle, all in the very last row of the aircraft. “That’s perfectly all right,” I told the lady, “as long as we can get home safely. After all, it is just a 2-hour flight.” Well, eventually, I was able to swop seats with my fellow-passengers so that all three of us could be seated together in the same row. No problem at all!

However, if you’re flying via this airline and in this particular aircraft, it may be better not to book your seats from rows 25 and after as the overhead stowage compartments are reserved for the cabin crew…

…and other things…

…and the one right above row 28…

…stores the equipment…

…for the in-flight safety briefing video…

…so if you have any hand luggage, you will have to stuff them into those before row 25 or push it underneath the seat in front of you.

Honestly, I’m not complaining or anything just that it would probably be useful to take note of these things so we would not be caught unaware when flying in one of these aircrafts. Of course, we can always ask the very nice and friendly and very helpful flight attendants on board…

…for assistance. I did – I called out to one standing a few rows away from me, “Can you help me with my bag, please?” and smilingly, he replied, “Of course, most certainly,” and in no time at all, my bag was nicely stowed away up there and I could proceed to my seat.

I’m not too sure whether it was just my seat or it was the same with the rest or I had put on too much weight while in New Zealand and in Auckland specifically…but the seat belt was too short for me. So I had to get the attention of another one of the stewards on duty…

…and ask for an extension belt. He got one for me instantly and he even apologised that he had not got me one earlier. Ooooo…I was impressed! I would say that I should be flattered that he did not realise that I needed one…and I would take that as a compliment. Hehehehehe!!!!!

Breakfast was fine – I had the roti pratha with chicken curry…

…that came with a  bar of Toblerone…

…and this very nice slice of chocolate cake…

But another thing I did not like about this aircraft was that I could not push the armrest completely in between the seats…

…like in the old Boeing aircrafts. I would usually do that when flying as that would give me a little more space…but not when I’m flying alone and I have a stranger sitting right next to me. Other than that, I also found that the toilets were smaller so I had a bit of difficulty moving around inside and getting in and out of the tight cubicle.

Still I’m not complaining…and I would say I do appreciate the effort on the part of the cabin crew to try and make everything as pleasant as possible and also the ones in the flight deck for a smooth and comfortable flight…and like I said earlier, it was just a 2-hour flight, anyway.